Posters praising last week’s deadly attack at the Jerusalem gay pride parade appeared in the city’s ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods Thursday morning. Distributed by an extremist group calling itself “The Faithful Judaism,” the notices applauded the stabbing as an act of holy “self sacrifice.” “May all of the people of God be zealous as you,” one poster read, as its authors expressed hope that similar acts would be carried out in the future. Under the headline “And the Plague Shall be Stopped,” another poster praised the deadly attack as an “act of Phineas,” a reference to an Old Testament priest who personally executed an Israelite man and a Midianite woman while they were together in the man’s tent, by running a spear through them both. His action is thought to have brought an end to a plague sent by God to punish the Israelites for sexual encounters with the Midianites. In another poster titled “Blessed are you Rabbi Yishai,” Schlissel was hailed as an emissary from God; the text on the poster quoted the Old Testament verse “Whoever spills the blood of the wicked is as if he brought a sacrifice.”

Yesterday a judge ordered the killer to undergo an evaluation to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trail.